British GP Silverstone this weekend

Well, we learned that it rains in England, especially in July, so the qualifying was chaos with the pit wall trying to double guess the track conditions and tyre choices, and the drivers getting wet. Very wet!

We also learned (if we didn’t know already) that F1 is very popular in the UK, with 120,000 spectators, complete with plastic macs and wellington boots at the Silverstone circuit. While Bernie, the patron saint of the euro-dollar, promotes yawnfest circuits like Valencia and Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

It was certainly Mark Webber’s (Red Bull) race to win and Fernando Alonso’s (Ferrari) to lose, as this pair had been the front runners all the way through the GP, and the last few laps had everyone on the edge of their seats. They are also now first and second in the championship, with Alonso only 13 points in front.

The Finger (Vettel - Red Bull) had an uneventful race for third, but did not look too despondent on the podium. “I would be a bit happier if we had won today, but it was a great result for the team, I am happy.” Never mind, the team must have given him a hug to cheer him up before the podium ceremony.

Alonso’s team mate, Felipe Massa, has pulled his Nomex sox up in the last two Grands Prix and if he keeps up the current form he deserves to stay at Ferrari for 2013 - but will he maintain the form?

The “Lotus” team still appears to be lacking that last little bit of performance, mainly on the pit wall, as their drivers are doing well, especially Romain Grosjean. To come from next to last after the first corner contretemps to finish sixth was a sterling effort. Raikkonen (AKA Laughing Boy) threw away his chances of fourth, or even a podium, with some negligent driving towards the end, but remains a threat to Ferrari and Red Bull.

Schumacher (7th - Mercedes) again showed that despite his age (which actually is nowhere near pensionable) he returned better results than his young team mate Rosberg who finished 15th. Schumacher is the consummate politician these days and is obviously enjoying his motor sport. Those who are calling for his retirement should desist.

Maldonado (Williams) in the thick of controversy again, this time with an attempt to spear Perez (Sauber). The movement was not missed by the stewards who fined him 10,000 euro. However, Sauber’s Krasher Ken Kobayashi managed to run over four of his crew and was fined 25,000 euro. Perhaps he has been studying the maneuver on Pattaya’s pedestrian crossings!

McLaren have gone backwards recently, and despite a downturn in Button’s form, both drivers deserve a better car. Ferrari was behind and is now front row. McLaren’s engineers have to do the same. And soon.

I am indebted to Peter Smith (AA Insurance Brokers) for his insights into the British GP as I was unable to watch the telecast live, having inverted the Securitas Retro Escort at the Kaeng Krachan circuit (Petchaburi) and was unable to get back to Jameson’s big screen in time.

Peter’s summation: a good (many overtakes) race - always seeming to have something happening somewhere on the circuit - a total contrast the usual boring nonsense of the street/Arab circuits. Tyres again in the fore with the first round of stops on lap 9 for heaven’s sake!

EU-South Korea partnership one-sided

Korea’s Hyundai Veloster

Automobile figures for the first 11 months of the EU-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) highlight the asymmetrical trade flow relations between the two partners, with massive increases for Korean exports of passenger cars, yet only relatively modest gains for the EU industry. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) took the opportunity of the first anniversary of the FTA on 1 July to draw attention to this unbalanced situation.

During the period from 1 July 2011 to 31 May 2012, Korea exported 400,000 domestically-manufactured passenger cars into the EU; a figure which is up 40 percent from the same period one year earlier. By contrast, over the same timeframe Korea imported 73,000 European passenger cars, which represents an increase of 13 percent. This information - confirmed by the Korean International Trade Association (KITA) at the Business Europe meeting at which ACEA was present - paints a very different picture to that presented by the European Commission in its statement yesterday.

Since the FTA, Korean import duties have come down from 8 percent to about 6 percent, and EU import duties have been reduced from 10 percent to approximately 8 percent.

“It is still too early to say if there is a direct relationship between the entry into force of the FTA and the increase in trade flows,” stated ACEA Secretary General Ivan Hodac. “What is clear however is that European exports are being hampered by the continuing existence of automotive non-tariff barriers (NTBs).”

“On the occasion of this one-year anniversary, ACEA calls on the Commission to resolve the issue of existing automotive NTBs as well as to ensure that no new ones are introduced,” Hodac stated. “We will continue to actively monitor the situation and remain vigilant to further developments.”

The EU is not alone in its concerns regarding FTA’s with Asian countries, with the Australia and Thailand’s FTA also not a balanced relationship, and even the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) is not without its problems.

This is an ongoing situation - watch this space!

Another marriage based on need? (Or greed?)

Toyota 2000GT

In one fell swoop of the pen, Toyota and BMW just ended their tenure as independent automakers in the world marketplace with the news of the sports car they will share.

Toyota and BMW have agreed to jointly develop a sportscar as part of a planned expansion of engineering ties that will also include co-operation on fuel cells, light-weight vehicle design and electric powertrains.

An MOU (memorandum of understanding) for long-term strategic collaboration was signed in Munich last month by Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda and BMW Group chairman Norbert Reithofer.

This is a flow-on from an existing agreement, under which BMW will supply diesel engines to Toyota for its European cars from 2014 in return for access to Toyota electric powertrain technology.

BMW i8

The latest MOU is seen as similar to agreements made between Mercedes-Benz and Renault-Nissan, and General Motors and PSA Peugeot-Citroen. When your new car fails, who do you contact for warranty, I wonder?

According to the PR guff, Akio Toyoda said Toyota and BMW shared a common principle - a mission to make ever-better cars. “We are not coming together to become bigger,” he said. “We are not coming together to form capital ties. We are joining hands because we want to make ever-better cars.” And if you believe that, then you will also realize that the moon truly is made of green cheese.

Mr Toyoda said that, while Toyota was strong in environment-friendly hybrids and fuel cells, BMW’s strength was in developing sports cars. “They know how to make a car perform,” he said. “I get so excited thinking about the cars that will result from this relationship.”

Akio-San conveniently forgets the Toyota Supra, Toyota Celica and even the Toyota 2000GT, and the new, jointly produced with Subaru, Toyota 86, let alone the Lexus LFA.

Toyota and BMW are not the first to decide that co-operation on sports cars is the name of the game, with Fiat recently signing a deal with Mazda to share the next MX-5 to be marketed as an Alfa Romeo.

No details of the proposed jointly produced sports car were given, except to say it would involve the architecture and components. The new car is likely to borrow technologies from both sides, such as lightweight carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) panels from BMW’s i3 and i8, and an electrified powertrain from Toyota.

While Toyota has been pressing ahead with hybrid powertrains through the Toyota Prius and Lexus hybrid models, BMW has been developing its own ‘i’ brand of lightweight electric and plug-in hybrid cars such as the i3 city runabout and i8 hybrid sports car (as driven by Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible movie).

One is left wondering, just what the advantages of all these unions really will be.

Stolen vehicle tracking the answer?

A friend of mine just had her vehicle stolen, with very little chance of recovery. Last night it was there, this morning it’s gone, and how far is it to Cambodia?

With number plates being the only way to identify your car from the outside, with one screwdriver and five minutes, your car has become anonymous.

Gone in 60 seconds.

GPS and GPRS tracking devices are available in Thailand, and these represent the most intelligent way to protect your investment in my opinion. No matter how ‘clever’ the anti-theft system is in your car, it does not stop the skilled thieves (remember the movie Gone in 60 seconds), who if they can’t open and operate your vehicle where it is parked, there are always the slide-on recovery trucks and they can drag it away.

Interestingly, I came across a report of one of these types of devices in the UK, and how it thwarted the thieves. The West Midlands Police recovered four stolen vehicles worth a total ฃ98,000 in one hit thanks to Tracker, the UK’s leader provider of stolen vehicle recovery solutions (SVR).

A BMW X5 worth ฃ35,000 was reported stolen overnight from Edgbaston. Luckily it was fitted with a Tracker device which was activated and West Midlands Police began their search. During the hunt for the BMW, a report of three other stolen vehicles from an address in Olton, two of which were fitted with Tracker devices, also came in. The owners of the 3 cars - a Range Rover Sport worth ฃ42,000, a Mercedes ML 350 Sport worth ฃ11,500 and a Nissan Micra worth ฃ9,000 - were on holiday; luckily for them a neighbor alerted the Police to the fact their premises had been entered, and in turn the cars were discovered to be stolen. In less than four hours the Police had located the BMW X5 as well as the three other vehicles.

PC Alan Meredith of West Midlands Police Air Operations Unit said, “Thanks to the timely activation of the Tracker devices, we recovered approximately ฃ98,000 worth of vehicles before thieves could sell them on or ship them abroad. This is a great result and Tracker played a key role in the success of this operation.”

To be able to locate the stolen vehicles within four hours means your car, with its robbers, could be stopped at the Cambodian border and the thieves apprehended. The cost of these devices in Thailand is around THB 4,000-5,000, which compared to the cost of your car and the hassles you avoid, makes them very cheap.

Autotrivia quiz

quiz car

Last week I stated that Italy has produced some famous cars. One had a production run of almost 20 years, with six versions and even an all-electric one. It was designed by Dante. Had front engine and rear engine variants, and I asked what was it? It was the Fiat 500.

So to this week. What is this car?

For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected]